After a discussion of the philosophical background—Kierkegaard to Heidegger—the author examines the existentialist thought of Camus and Sartre, as it applies particularly to the problem of social responsibility. With many illuminating comparisons in the realm of world literature, he then proceeds to trace the influence of alienation in American letters since World War I, and its relation to the existentialist answer. Among those discussed are O’Neill, Fitzgerald, Eliot, Faulkner, Dos Passos, Henry Miller, Styron, Salinger, Albee, Updike, Purdy, Bellow, Mailer and Baldwin. The first of its kind, the book provides a provocative and thoughtful criticism of contemporary American literature.
Author(s): Sidney Finkelstein
Series: New World Paperbacks 50
Edition: 3rd printing
Publisher: International Publishers
Year: 1968
Language: English
Pages: 317
City: New York
1. INTRODUCTION: Art and Philosophy ......Page 8
2. THE ENLIGHTENMENT: Doubts and Concepts of Progress ......Page 12
3. CAPITALISM VIEWED BY KIERKEGAARD AND MARX ......Page 26
4. DOSTOIEVSKY: Realist and Anti-Realist ......Page 46
5. NIETZSCHE: The Myth and the Unconscious ......Page 56
6. EXISTENTIALISM AND GERMAN FASCISM: Husserl, Heidegger and Jaspers ......Page 82
7. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE EXISTENTIALIST ARTIST: Camus and Sartre ......Page 114
8. SOCIOLOGICAL AND LITERARY DEPICTION OF ALIENATION: Marx, Balzac and Eugene O’Neill ......Page 137
9. ALIENATION AS A LITERARY STYLE: F. Scott Fitzgerald and T. S. Eliot ......Page 166
10. CONFLICT BETWEEN HUMANIZATION AND ALIENATION: William Faulkner ......Page 185
11. ALIENATION AND REBELLION TO NOWHERE: John Dos Passos and Henry Miller ......Page 199
12. COLD WAR, RELIGIOUS REVIVAL AND FAMILY ALIENATION: William Styron, J. D. Salinger and Edward Albee ......Page 212
A. Acceptance of Alienation: John Updike and James Purdy ......Page 244
B. Lost Social Convictions and Existentialism: Arthur Miller and Saul Bellow ......Page 253
C. Existentialism and Social Demands: Norman Mailer and James Baldwin ......Page 270
14. THE MORALITY OF HUMAN PROGRESS ......Page 286
Reference Notes ......Page 300
Index ......Page 310
